Infernal Hordes isn't the kind of endgame you stroll through with a podcast on. You're shoved into the Hall of the Fell Council, the doors slam, and the game basically dares you to keep up. The arena's small, the lighting's all bruised reds, and the pressure never really lets off. If you're coming in to farm Diablo 4 Items, you'll notice fast that this mode rewards focus more than bravado, because everything you do is happening on a timer and in your face.
Burning Aether Changes the Whole Run
The first thing people mess up is treating it like regular wave content. Don't. Burning Aether is the run. You watch that counter like it's your health bar, and you adjust on the fly when the game calls out Aether Fiends. It's not "kill what's closest," it's "kill what pays." Aether Goblins pop in, you chase them down, you scoop the motes, and you're already turning to the next threat. Miss a few spawns because you're tunneling on trash, and you'll feel it at the end when the Spoils of Hell chests don't hit the way you hoped.
Your Build Has to Do Work
You can bring almost anything into Nightmare Dungeons and make it function if you're patient. Here, patience gets you boxed in. A mobile setup shines—Rogue is the obvious example—but the point is simple: you need movement, burst, and wide damage. Lots of it. When the screen fills with bodies and hazards, single-target pride doesn't help. You want clears that happen in one or two beats, then you're already repositioning. If your cooldowns feel awkward, or your AoE's too narrow, the waves start stacking and you'll spend the run scrambling instead of farming.
Greed Will Get You Killed
The arena loves throwing red circles under your feet right when the Aether drops. And yeah, you'll want to dive for it. Everyone does. But the fastest runs usually belong to players who know when to leave a few motes on the ground and live. Keep one eye on the minimap, keep the other on your escape tools, and don't blow everything just to look flashy. The Fell Council pressure is real, and getting clipped by a chain of explosions isn't "unlucky," it's usually a bad angle you didn't respect.
Why the Loop Feels So Addictive
When it clicks, it's hard to go back to slower farming. You're making small decisions every second—who to delete first, where to stand, what to ignore—and all of it turns into loot at the finish line. Greater Affix legendaries, Masterworking materials, the whole "one more run" itch. That's why people keep throwing themselves into the grinder, then immediately queue again, especially if they're trying to round out a build with Diablo IV Items while the mode's still one of the quickest paths to real upgrades early on in a session.
